From iPod to instruction: Our expert talks podcasts

Chris Stewart, operations manager in the Scripps College of Communication, remembers the first time he became aware of podcasts. 

“…When podcasting first showed up in my my old white iPod with the spin wheel, years ago, you know, this was 2006 [or] 2007,” he recalled. “And one day I pulled that thing off of my computer and I'm like, what is this word, ‘podcast’?” 

Fast forward a couple of decades, and not only is Stewart an avid podcast listener, he’s a veteran podcaster and an instructor on the topic for the Scripps College’s podcasting certificate. 

“We've never had a medium like this before,” he said.

In the latest episode of our Ask the Experts podcast, Stewart discusses practical tips for podcasting, the history of the medium, and of course, true crime’s enduring popularity. He describes the origins of the Podcast Studio in the Schoonover Center for Communication, and as always, we explore some questions.

What accounts for the podcast’s rise over the last 20 years? Why do people podcast? And why do people listen? For Stewart, it comes down to storytelling.

“What I think what makes people come back is that they are intrigued or they're interested, and they get sucked into a story that you're either telling in multiple episodes or that you're telling every time you sit down to do a podcast,” he said. 

For aspiring podcasters, Stewart recommends asking yourself a simple question: “How am I telling a story here?”

Listen to the full “Podcasting” episode of our Ask the Experts podcast. 

Produced by Ohio University’s Communications and Marketing Department, specifically by Scripps College of Communication junior audio production student Alex Karan, the Ask the Experts podcast celebrates interdisciplinary collaboration and allows students to develop a podcast from start to finish using OHIO’s podcast studio in the Scripps College of Communication.